It's interesting... you can tell the difference between photographers who are good at their art, and those that just happened to be shooting at the right place and the right time. As people sometimes say, it's better to be lucky than good.

Hey guys, so iv'e been looking for a nice fairly inexpensive wide angle lens. Could I please get some opinions about the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 vs. Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6

Which one do you have or would you choose and why? If none of the above what alternative would you recommend?

I have the EF-S 10-22. At the time of purchase (in 2006, I think, when I got my XTi) I didn't really know about the Sigma; as a matter of fact I don't know now if it was available then.

That being said I won't knock Sigma as a brand. I have one of their lenses and love it. So I can only praise the EF-S 10-22 but can't offer a comparison between the two.

The Canon EF-S 10-22 is reasonably sharp even when stopped down, and provides a very useful range. I would say on range alone, the Tokina 11-16 (as someone else mentioned) would be my least favorite because you lose 1mm at the wide end, and if you want to zoom in past 16, you're changing lenses.

There have been a few times when I have shot the 10-22 at focal lengths above 16mm and it's nice not to have to switch to my EF-S 17-85 for those times.

Here's a close one that I think has a good show of sharpness. There is 0 sharpening on this photo, I actually reduced the defualt sharpening of 25 in LR3 because I thought it was so sharp SOOC:_MG_8198-Edit.jpg by ddk632, on Flickr

Both are good from what I've heard. I prefer Canon only because of the brand, and the fact I wouldn't have to worry about whether that lens would be compatible on future Canon bodies or not.

You can also look at the Tokina 11-16mm which a lot of people rave about.

Thanks for the reply Ashu! I'm leaning more towards the Canon side too. I think i'll rent them both this weekend and test them out to see which one I prefer before making the purchase.

Quote:

Originally Posted by panicos81

+1 on the Tokina Mario.. its great

Thank you for your input Panicos, I'm going to look into it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddk632

I have the EF-S 10-22. At the time of purchase (in 2006, I think, when I got my XTi) I didn't really know about the Sigma; as a matter of fact I don't know now if it was available then.

That being said I won't knock Sigma as a brand. I have one of their lenses and love it. So I can only praise the EF-S 10-22 but can't offer a comparison between the two.

The Canon EF-S 10-22 is reasonably sharp even when stopped down, and provides a very useful range. I would say on range alone, the Tokina 11-16 (as someone else mentioned) would be my least favorite because you lose 1mm at the wide end, and if you want to zoom in past 16, you're changing lenses.

There have been a few times when I have shot the 10-22 at focal lengths above 16mm and it's nice not to have to switch to my EF-S 17-85 for those times.

Here's a close one that I think has a good show of sharpness. There is 0 sharpening on this photo, I actually reduced the defualt sharpening of 25 in LR3 because I thought it was so sharp SOOC:_MG_8198-Edit.jpg by ddk632, on Flickr

Hope this helps at least on the Canon side of the decision

WOW! Thank you so much for taking your time and writing this David. Your examples are great, and the shot of your motorcycle in the snapshot of the day thread is just beautiful. As I told Chewy I am leaning more towards the Canon side too, but to be fair I'm going to rent both lenses this weekend and test them out to see which one is for me before making my purchase. Again thanks for your informative post, its definitely going to help me with the decision making process!

Let us know how it goes Mario, I'm interested to see your perspective on the two lenses.

So I contacted a reputable rental shop, but unfortunately both lenses are unavailable. The only similar lens available is the Tokina 11-16mm. I'm picking that up tomorrow morning for 3 days, I also have the other two lenses reserved for next weekend. I am curious to try out all 3, I'll post how it goes, along with some side by side photos when I get the chance

So I had this weekend to play around with the Tokina 11-16mm lens.... and I LOVED it! I was shooting mostly at 11mm just because I really enjoyed that wide angle. Here is a picture from it, I know the editing style is not for most, but I wanted to share anyways.. Looking forward to trying out the Canon 10-22mm next weekend and making a decision on which one to keep

So I had this weekend to play around with the Tokina 11-16mm lens.... and I LOVED it! I was shooting mostly at 11mm just because I really enjoyed that wide angle. Here is a picture from it, I know the editing style is not for most, but I wanted to share anyways.. Looking forward to trying out the Canon 10-22mm next weekend and making a decision on which one to keep

I'm thinking about the Canon 8-15mm to use on my 5D MkIII. Why aren't you considering that also?

So I had this weekend to play around with the Tokina 11-16mm lens.... and I LOVED it! I was shooting mostly at 11mm just because I really enjoyed that wide angle. Here is a picture from it, I know the editing style is not for most, but I wanted to share anyways.. Looking forward to trying out the Canon 10-22mm next weekend and making a decision on which one to keep

i bet youŽll take the Tokina

Fuji is coming out with a 14mm but i dont think it will be wide enough since i already have the 18mm. considering the samyang 8mm but iŽm a bit reluctant because its a fisheye.. Voigtlander 12mm probably is my only option.. Just thinking out loud

So I had this weekend to play around with the Tokina 11-16mm lens.... and I LOVED it! I was shooting mostly at 11mm just because I really enjoyed that wide angle. Here is a picture from it, I know the editing style is not for most, but I wanted to share anyways.. Looking forward to trying out the Canon 10-22mm next weekend and making a decision on which one to keep

sweet photo. love the play on colors and the composition is better than most i've seen on this forum Im surprise you're image isn't as distorted as I imagined it to be. i remember playing with a 10-22mm from canon and I hated it hahaha but I'm not too big on ultra wide angles so take my word with a grain of salt haha maybe your cup of tea

So I had this weekend to play around with the Tokina 11-16mm lens.... and I LOVED it! I was shooting mostly at 11mm just because I really enjoyed that wide angle. Here is a picture from it, I know the editing style is not for most, but I wanted to share anyways.. Looking forward to trying out the Canon 10-22mm next weekend and making a decision on which one to keep

Glad you liked the 11-16, Mario. I like the editing on this image, and the composition. Agree with spacemonkey, distortion control looks great on this!

Looks like you aimed the lens straight on, and also did some lens profile correction, am I guessing correctly?

My UWA images images suffer from distortion, often times I like it; however, sometimes it just ruins an otherwise good image. I find that distortion correction in LR3 is not enough in those cases, and along with aiming camera straight ahead, those are the only two remedies I know of that don't require purchasing a tilt-shift lens.

Very interested in your technique/process there, if you don't mind sharing, of course.

I'm thinking about the Canon 8-15mm to use on my 5D MkIII. Why aren't you considering that also?

Dave

Hey Dave, I'm currently using a t3i. Before I see my self spending large(r) amounts on a lens, I'd like to upgrade the body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weebl

Probably 50% less in cost.

and This.

Quote:

Originally Posted by panicos81

i bet youŽll take the Tokina

Fuji is coming out with a 14mm but i dont think it will be wide enough since i already have the 18mm. considering the samyang 8mm but iŽm a bit reluctant because its a fisheye.. Voigtlander 12mm probably is my only option.. Just thinking out loud

haha I like the 8mm, but I wouldn't get it unless I had another lens for every thing. I see my self using it for a bit than getting bored quick. Curious to use the 10-22mm and would be happy even if I ended up with the Tokina!

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacemonkey1112

sweet photo. love the play on colors and the composition is better than most i've seen on this forum Im surprise you're image isn't as distorted as I imagined it to be. i remember playing with a 10-22mm from canon and I hated it hahaha but I'm not too big on ultra wide angles so take my word with a grain of salt haha maybe your cup of tea

Thanks spacemonkey, I appreciate that! A lot of images came out distorted, mainly the ones at 11mm really close to the subject, and the ones at 16mm really far away from the subject. Regardless though, I took about 900 pictures that day so their was room for error

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddk632

Glad you liked the 11-16, Mario. I like the editing on this image, and the composition. Agree with spacemonkey, distortion control looks great on this!

Looks like you aimed the lens straight on, and also did some lens profile correction, am I guessing correctly?

My UWA images images suffer from distortion, often times I like it; however, sometimes it just ruins an otherwise good image. I find that distortion correction in LR3 is not enough in those cases, and along with aiming camera straight ahead, those are the only two remedies I know of that don't require purchasing a tilt-shift lens.

Very interested in your technique/process there, if you don't mind sharing, of course.

Thank you David! Like I told spacemonkey a lot of images came out distorted, mainly the ones at 11mm really close to the subject, and the ones at 16mm really far away from the subject. I took about 900 pictures, just moving around the cars in all angles. Like you said some of the distortion actually looked pretty cool, but others made the E30 have the body length of a Maybach which I really didn't like haha

I also use LR4, however I did not use any distortion correction on this particular image. I just straightened the image as much as I could without cropping out any part of the building. I narrowed down the pictures I took to about 55 of my favorites, I guess since I only had a couple of days with the lens it was mostly trial and error.

Oh, and one more thing.. Do you guys use Mac or PC to edit? Some of my processed pictures look great on my Macbook Pro, but when I view them from my Sony Vaio they look horrible.. and vise versa. Now before I upload a photo I send it to both laptops just to compare, which is becoming a hassle :/

Hey Dave, I'm currently using a t3i. Before I see my self spending large(r) amounts on a lens, I'd like to upgrade the body.

Don't buy lenses that you'll want to replace when you improve your body. Lenses will outlast bodies by several times.

I didn't know your camera, so you're not going to get true fisheye with a crop sensor. That doesn't rule out an 8-15mm, but it if you never plan to have a FF sensor, then it'll probably be a waste of money.

Oh, and one more thing.. Do you guys use Mac or PC to edit? Some of my processed pictures look great on my Macbook Pro, but when I view them from my Sony Vaio they look horrible.. and vise versa. Now before I upload a photo I send it to both laptops just to compare, which is becoming a hassle :/

Been using a Mac for 4 years, no plans on going back to PC.

I used to have a Vaio and the color profile was entirely too warm, it seems Macs are color calibrated nicely out of the box.

Oh, and one more thing.. Do you guys use Mac or PC to edit? Some of my processed pictures look great on my Macbook Pro, but when I view them from my Sony Vaio they look horrible.. and vise versa. Now before I upload a photo I send it to both laptops just to compare, which is becoming a hassle :/

I use 64-bit PC. There used to be delays for the Apple versions of my software (DxO) but I think they've fixed that. I use calibrated monitors for both my desktop and laptop. Since you can now run several OS on the Apple machines, I could probably stand to use Apple, but I see no reason.

I think calibrated monitors are key to consistent images. At the end of last year I bought a Lenovo laptop that had a very cool, blueish screen tint and when I'd view images processed on it they were way too saturated on my calibrated monitor. I had to re-process several batches of images and I bought a Spyder to calibrate the laptop and avoid double processing.

In Shutterbug Magazine there was a discussion, one of the Macs, I think it was the old MacMini, had a monitor that wouldn't calibrate to most standards. I think that was an isolated case and related to one of their all-in-one boxes.

I'm wondering, has anyone worked with the Retina display on a MacBook Pro? I heard that the screen is pretty incredible, but was wondering how the color temp is for image processing. Will the available color Spyders correct it?